Japan has world's most elderly
July 15, 2006
Japan has surpassed Italy to become the world's most elderly nation, the government said last week, fuelling concern over the effects of a rapidly aging population on the world's second-largest economy.
People aged 65 or older accounted for 21% of Japan's population in 2005, surpassing Italy's 20% as the world's highest, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a preliminary report.
The ratio of people under 15 also hit the world's lowest level at 13.6%, dipping below Bulgaria's 13.8%, according to the report based on a nationwide census taken last year.
"This shows a strong trend toward fewer children," Kuniko Inoguchi, the government minister tasked with coming up with counter measures, told reporters.
A plunging birth rate and an expanding elderly population pose serious concerns for Japan as it struggles to tackle a labour shortage and eroding tax base.
Japan's population dropped in 2005 for the first time on record, shocking officials and spurring a spate of measures to encourage women to have more babies.
The survey also said the ratio of unmarried people went up in all age groups between 20 and 64, for both men and women.
The government expects roughly one in four Japanese may be aged 65 or older in 2015, and about one in three in 2050. - Sapa-AP
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